Great use of statistics there. A higher number of citations surely indicates discrimination, not surprising since we all know that NY cops are a bunch of bicycle hating, uneducated cretins from uncool parts of the city like Queens and the Bronx. We're just a bunch of victims (the model du jour: what better way to build cohesiveness in a group?).

Why not look at something more meaningful like rates of infractions and then see how we stack up? Compare the total number of citations issued to the actual number of violations per day or per vehicle mile. Are we still victims of an unfair city? I doubt it. I don't see a whole lot of trucks going the wrong way on a street or running lights. Bikes on the other hand.

February 17, 2012 3:59 AM

Clearly this reader doesn't live in my uncool part of New York City, where trucks, cars, motorcycles and buses run lights regularly and motor vehicles of all kinds salmon with impunity. (Yes, I consider driving 30mph in reverse for an entire block to be "salmoning.") As far as comparing "rates of infractions," this is ultimately meaningless, since the absurdity of subjecting a lawbreaking cyclist and a lawbreaking truck driver to exactly the same penalty is precisely the point. When you get hit by a cyclist running a light you break a nail, but when you get hit by a truck running a light you wind up as part of the crosswalk.

Still, it's essential that we treat cyclists and drivers exactly the same way. Why? Because maintaining the illusion that drivers and cyclists are equal is the key to making sure that they stay unequal, and it ensures that anything that happens to you when you're on a bike remains your fault--or at least not the driver's fault. As long as they keep telling you to act like a car, then that means it's OK when you get hit by a car, despite the enormous disparity between the machines and your utter lack of sheet metal. What's the difference between a door ding and a dead cyclist in most of America? Technically nothing--in fact, you're probably worse off if you give someone a door ding. Sometimes, equality is the greatest iniquity.

Holy shit, first time I've seen that Bristol video, its right outside where I used to work and have cycled that particular stretch countless times. For added irony bonus, the building this occurs in front of is the Magistrate's Court.

An ACTransit bus tried to run me over once. For some reason the driver was determined not to let me pass despite her frequent stops, and when it became inevitable the driver tried to run me down. When I caught up with the driver at the light I asked her if she saw me and she affirmed that she had and told me I shouldn't be in the street (professional driver, public employee, completely ignorant of traffic law), and dared me to report her. I made an official complaint including bus number, route and time of day. Guess if anything became of it.

excellent rebuttal snob. Drivers do not view cyclists as having equal rights to the road. How many times has a car sped past you only to dangerously right hook you, leaving you with the choice of slamming on your brakes or into their moving car? Without exaggerating this happens to me at least 4 or 5 times a day on my round trip daily commute, in a bike lane nonethelss. I haven't looked up the law but I'm pretty sure that this would be a moving violation, just as it would be to turn into pedestrians crossing the street with a walk sign. So here are some stats for douchebag anonymous commenter from yesterday: bike commuting days a year: ~200 x right hooks per day ~4 x years commuting 10 = 4,000 incidents. how many times have i witnessed these offending drivers being issued a summons by New Yorks finest for what certainly is a very dangerous moving violation? You guessed it zero.

I love the cyclist baiting title of that article. Higher than what? The implication is higher than cars, but that's debunked in the very first paragraph. "while small compared with the number of pedestrians injured by cars" I can only hope most folks read that far and find out that cyclists are *still* not a major threat to life and limb in NYC, unlike trucks and cars.

I love this quote, too:

"Motor vehicles are responsible for over 70,000 injuries every year in New York City, and hundreds of annual deaths,” Mr. Murphy said. “We can ignore that number and bash bikes, or we can get serious about safety and work to stop all traffic casualties.”

That video of the bus is terrifying. I know MBTA drivers aren't any better than their compatriots in other cities as far as knowing the law or being respectful, but I can at least hope none of them will deliberately try to kill me.

And Mr. Darnits needs to see a mental health professional about his sociopathy.

In my Brooklyn to Manhattan to Brooklyn daily bicycle commute I see an average of 5 'blown' red lights a day by all types of motor vehicles, including 20+ ton city commuter buses.

Guess what drivers and traffic police: driving through a red light that just turned red a second before you got to it is STILL DRIVING THROUGH A RED LIGHT.

If anything, it's even more dangerous than the typical cyclist 'blowing' a red light by slowing or stopping completely, looking carefully, letting vehicles and pedestrians go first then proceeding, because they're doing none of that and are often speeding up to make the light. Not to mention that said vehicles are 2, 4 or 20 tons compared to a couple of hundred pound rider and bicycle.

So to all the other anons on here recently who seem to be from the secret 1PP propaganda unit, eat a bag of dicks.

I was almost smacked by a bus that ran a red light last year, and earlier this year watched a bus zoom down the wrong side of the street and run a red. Maybe there's some kind of bus driver contest we don't know about...

Today it wasn't raining so I rode my bike to work across my 7 stop light town in the middle of Ohio cornfields. What few motorists I did encounter were considerate and gave me plenty of room. Living in a 7 stoplight town in the middle of cornfields does have it's advantages.

I understand what makes Donnie so mad. Every day there are cyclists in his path making him late to class. At this rate, he'll never pass third grade.

What I don't understand is why whenever he mentions tight cycling shorts a photo of a woman appears. Dude,If you are gonna get stuck driving slowly behind a cyclist, you want the cyclist to be a female. Doy!

@ anon 2:24pm. I think WCRM is saying that a little Dutch slant in favor of the cyclist is in order. Yes, the dutch cyclist is still expected to follow the rules. But the dutch cyclist has a higher inherent right to not being hit than a motorist. At least the way I understand it.

This and Qatar may be 'shit small races' but are you begrudging these hard-working honest professionals a chance to get their season rolling in warm sunshine with nice hotels, rather than grovelling in the rain somewhere in Belgium?

I had a 3-speed Schwinn Speedster "TORPEDO OF DEATH" from when I was 10 years old to just a few years ago, when I decided I didn't really want to rebuild a Sturmey Archer hub for a bike that was too small for everyone in my family. So I chucked it.

yesterday was bad news with the statistics... today you show us a guy using a bus to run over someone because he probably didn't win the argument, then you show us "fucking fuck, goddd, fuck these... duh... bicyclists" rant... you are trying to scare us off our bikes, sir snob... now every day i go out there, i'll imagine some guy like the ranter behind the wheel of a car and i'll start riding on the sidewalk... get caught by NYPD, get a summons, and spend days at court and lose my job... then have to sell my bikes and start washing cars for a living... enjoy your weekend!!!

DonnieDarnit or whatver his name is has an American flag on his shirt, just like an astronaut! Isn't that cute? Of course, astronauts might have some sense of lighting so he wasn't in silhouette with only the nicely-lit walls of his parents' house properly exposed.

DonnieDarnit or whatver his name is has an American flag on his shirt, just like an astronaut! Isn't that cute? Of course, astronauts might have some sense of lighting so he wasn't in silhouette with only the nicely-lit walls of his parents' house properly exposed.

Donnie's deleted the adverse comments and blocked new ones. He can sure dish it out but the little cocksucker shudders like a baby bunny when anyone disagrees. He'll be bustin' some heads outside Cinnabon tonight!

...@ jasper...nope, not at all but personally, if i was a pro, i could think of a lot nicer warm spots for 'training' races...

...cycling has, to some extent, followed the example of formula 1 racing...go where the bucks are, whether there is any real spectator interest or not...

...bernie e, f1's boss will tell you that he's trying to 'create new interest in "the product" ' but he does so at the expense of deserting a traditional spectator base that's had plenty of interest for years...

...cycling is going the same route...we've seen the 'pro/world tour' expansion into north america & australia in recent years, which makes sense because these areas have had a strong sport cycling base for many years...

...but the uci's move into china with an upcoming 'world tour' status race is all about the future bucks & gaining control of a cycling (racing) market that hasn't yet happened...not that i don't understand the uci's concept but i think it waters down the product...

...back to 'oman & quatar'...in this case, oil money wants to draw tourists to their little sand lot 'cuz they've been investing so much cash in their infrastructure so what's a few million more each year to house n' feed a bunch a' pro bikeys...

...sure, the riders & teams feel like they're being treated like kings but the races suck & from what i can see, the scenery sux for the most part...& ultimately, i gotta think it doesn't draw more than a handful of cycling tourists to the area...

@bgw - can't disagree with anything you're saying there, especially around the venality of the UCI. It seems the pros don't seem to grumble about these early season races - or the late season excursions to Canada - as much as they do about going to China, so they must have something going for them.

This commenter obviously doesn't live in one of the "uncool parts of the city." Frankly, drivers in Manhattan are actually pretty good. It's so crowded and so hard to tell if a cop's around that you can't really run red lights. Out here, all drivers - trucks and cars alike - run red lights at every opportunity.

True that it doesn't happen often but a cyclist in San Francisco ran a red light hit a woman in a crosswalk and she died. It looks like he's going to trial.

A driver in SF moved into the oncoming traffic lane and ran head on into the bike ridden by a friend of mine's son. Luckily he survived with a broken collar bone and need for a new helmet. The police wouldn't even come out to the scene to take a report.

@McFly "GET OFF THE COUCH" thats great! I'll have to remember that one. I've been tormented by the four-leggers all my life. Got my first bite in the thigh by a German Shepard at about 13 years old while out on my ten speed. Never been bit since but raced quite a few. Fasted dog I ever saw was a pit bull surprisingly. He was damn fast off the line but petered out pretty quick.

For rural riders I highly recommend the spicy spray. buy a couple cans to practice with and then a quick squirt to the snout and they high tail it back to the house without a single yelp. I have found. I look at it as a service to other cyclists. The next time the dog I sprayed sees a cyclist he may decide just to stay on the porch.

The Couch technique works but you got to YELL it. I tried a whistle and had luck until this huge rott just came after me harder when I blew it. My brother was laughing so hard he about hit a mailbox. There is a border collie on one loop that always darts in front of you and tries to heard you the other direction. That's sketchy.

I was delivering the Rocky Mountain News, in Englewood Co., at 6:00 A.M. on a school day in 1969, when a large dog of unknown origin came at me, put his jaws around my leg,and clamped down a millisecond before I pulled it away. The living shit left me. Got some spray from the local Army Surplus, but never saw that dog again! Ah, memories. Also, the old guy that ran the LBS was nick-named "Pirate Pete". Don't really know if it was a real bike shop or just some old guy that repaired stuff. Well, he looked old.

I had convinced wifey to go on "a little ride with me" and we were attacked by two mallimutes and a St bernard, they were in pack instinct mode. @BGW, I sprayed and then THREW my bottle at them. We got away but she was upset. I drove back in the car to get my bottle. I parked about 500 yards away and walked up with DeMarini bat HOPING they were still out but they had been put up.

I'm figuring this out too. What I've concluded is that NY is completely out of control, especially out in the streets on the bike. It was exciting at first, but, unless you're someone like David Byrne, there comes a point when you get tired or even scared of the everyday chaos. I think it comes down to wanting to be more in control. My solution has been to stick to the trainer this winter.

What the hell is wrong with all these people? They say "I was attacked by a bus".. No, you were attacked by some moron that was driving a bus. Same arguments about guns.. you were not shot by a gun, you were shot by somebody holding that gun...

And, BTW, that cyclist was totally bogarting the whole road and purposfully trying to get in the way of the bus.... I wonder if he was riding a fixey??

...you'll note i didn't specify "chocolate brownie" & i was referring, although obviously not specifically enough for you, to a "tasty stoner canine treat" with 'brownie' being generic...

...but cats ???...damn, at least i'm not THIS guy...

..."Calif man pleads no contest in cat-eating case...deputies started a bizarre animal cruelty investigation that has focused attention from around the country on a working-class neighborhood in a Bakersfield suburb where a man allegedly was fileting cats and cooking them on his backyard barbecue..."...

2Wheeler,1. The "up the nose shot" is the artistic advertising equilivent of the "money shot" in the porn industry. I should know I used to be a KEY GRIP.2. The mask is a Godzilla mask. You need to research some prior posts. You should not have to go far.3. The racket is for when you finally work up the courage to go "around the world" with your new yoyo. It will inevitably hit you in the nuts, you use the racket to block the fruit collision.

I particularly liked the title of Tuesday's post "The Mystery of Couscousness: To Err is Hummus; to Falafel, Divine". I looked up the origin of the saying and learnt that it was a renowned connoisseur of Middle Eastern cuisine named Pope Alexander who first wrote those words back in The Age of Enlightenment (the time before the internet and The Age of Cats 'n Porn). Intrigued, I went on to investigate the life and times, words and wisdom of this most bodacious philosophizer for upwards of a minute and a half, before finally being distracted by cats or porn, or something. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was porn. Anyway, I promptly forgot all I had read about Pope.

Or so I thought.

Later in the week while fretting my way through the standardized Fred test I eventually got to question 5 and surprised myself when I recognised another A. Pope quote: "These fools be rushing in where angels fear to tread".

Ahh, the Get a Brain Morans picture surfaces again! I am the original photographer on that one. I took that picture at an anti-Boeing protest here in St. Louis many years ago. This genius was among several counterprotesters. It has become an iconic photo. Poor guy.

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About Me

While I love cycling and embrace it in all its forms, I'm also extremely critical. So I present to you my venting for your amusement and betterment. No offense meant to the critiqued. Always keep riding!